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MARINE CORPS BASE QUANTICO, Va. — When faced with a room full of troops and veterans
hoping to become entrepreneurs, James Williams likes to ask whether anyone has had
someone laugh at their business idea. He gets plenty of raised hands.

Then he launches into his signature story about a group of his peers in Bridgeport,
Conn., who couldn't afford college after graduating high school. They told Williams
and his friends that they planned to sell sandwiches to raise money for tuition.

Williams, lead economic development specialist for the Richmond (Va.) District Office
of the U.S. Small Business Administration, was speaking last week as part of a two-day
entrepreneurship boot camp called "Boots to Business," which gives separating troops
and veterans an introduction to starting a business.

The program is available on 165 military installations worldwide and has trained
more than 25,000 troops and veterans, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration,
which oversees it.

While veterans account for about 7 percent of the population, a survey released
Tuesday by the U.S. Census Bureau showed that there are more than 2.5 million veteran-owned
businesses in the country, employing more than 5.5 million people and accounting
for about 9 percent of all businesses.

"Boots to Business" is part of a push to better prepare troops for life after the
military and improve the Transition Assistance Program, the target of many a veteran
eye roll for its previously superficial approach to ready troops for the civilian
world. Formerly aimed only at troops close to separation, the program was recently
opened to all veterans and troops, regardless of how much time they have left in
the service.

Those who go through "Boots to Business" have the option of signing up for an eight-week
online course run by Syracuse University's Institute for Veterans and Military Families.

Richmond District Small Business Administration spokesman Matthew Nowak, who has
been in classes across Virginia, said "Boots to Business" draws troops with interests
that are all over the map.

"We even had a lieutenant colonel who wanted to grow weed in Colorado," he said.

Life outside the bubble

The recent Quantico class was a mixed bag of veterans, troops about to get out and
those who still had a year or more before separation. Their business ideas included
urban agriculture, security systems and beer brewing.

Some had started businesses, some were getting started and others were still dreaming.

Navy Lt. Maria DeCristoforo, 31, is more than a year from leaving active duty but
wants to get started on her plans to open a nano-brewery, which is a very small-scale
craft brewery.

"As much as I would like to start a nano-brewery tomorrow, I think starting a nano-brewery
and separating at the same time is an unnecessarily stressful situation," she said
during Williams' class.

Marine Sgt. Timmion Banton, 28, was also there. Also more than a year from separating,
he hopes to open a restaurant featuring the food of his native Jamaica and says
after leading a structured military life, the freedom of entrepreneurship appeals
to him.

"It's the flexibility, knowing that I'm not working for anyone, that I'm my own
boss," he said.

Williams said that the structure and discipline troops learn while in the armed
forces serves them well in business, but that there's often an adjustment to leaving
the military bubble, with its free health care, readily available services and housing
stipends.

"One of the big hurdles is becoming acclimated to civilian life again," he said.
"They have been in a protected kind of life, separated from the general population
— some of them have separation anxiety."

Reality check

"Boots to Business" is meant to be a reality check about the very difficult road
ahead for anyone starting a business, Williams said.

"What we're really looking to do is give them a vehicle by which they can think
about, 'What is the feasibility of my dream?' " he said. "In the end, if you decide,
'This isn't for me,' that's still a success."

One of the program's graduates, Andrea Currie, is about a year into the Virginia
oyster farming business she runs with her husband, Ethan Currie. She says 32 years
in the Coast Guard gave her many skills, but sales was not one of them.

"The military doesn't prepare you to market, and it's not really preparation for
the corporate world — it's a whole different world," she said. "Boots to Business"
did a great job of addressing reality. "They also work very hard to connect and
hook you up with other people who can help."